Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 265 Joint Mission

It's a beautiful sunny day, blue skies, white clouds, golden sunshine. A green green spot in the mountains, the breeze touched it, bringing bird language floral scent...

However, soldiers under the command of a joint investigation mission composed of Front Line Command staff officers and officers of the Military Discipline Department felt creepy, windy and cold. Simply, they were ordered to dig up the big pits where the bodies of the enemy were buried, and the people who came up here had to recheck the numbers of the enemies that had been eliminated, so they had to check again for so many bodies...

Major Ledfank stood up cold and demanded that the soldiers obey orders. It was impossible, indeed, to believe the outcome of this battle between the three squadrons led by Claude and the territorial nobles of the two principalities, whose Kung fu was questioned by countless people. After all, even the most arrogant officers dare not admit that they can win under the same circumstances. Staff members of the Front Line Command are said to have made countless postulates on the map based on the war papers, but the best outcome is that half a month after the enemy's attack, all the guarded soldiers were killed in battle in the sand.

So when Grand Prince Hansburg set aside this warfare newsletter without handling it, many of the front-line commanding officers who knew about it secretly talked about it and were uncomfortable in their hearts. He also made several recommendations to the Grand Prince on this matter, demanding that such false warfare must be severely punished. Otherwise, once the forces below begin to emulate it, the consequences are unthinkable.

However, Prince Hansburg did not heed the advice of his officers until the temporary passage in the Picklet Mountains had been erected and the reinforcements opened up to the three southern counties before convening a military conference to investigate the truth and falsehood of the Kung Fu Express by sending a joint investigation team to the Ranger Battalion.

It is noteworthy that most of the officers who participated in the Joint Investigation Team were those who believed that the Kung-fu newsletter was false and that the Grand Prince had merely sent his close deputy, Captain Skerry, to oversee it in order to prevent some members of the Joint Investigation Team from falsifying it in order to achieve their objectives. People's hearts are unpredictable, and it is not impossible for arrogant generations to find themselves wrong and then become angry and deliberately distort facts to frame others.

Major Ledfank, who was unable to communicate directly with the rear, was only able to transmit the warfare brief to Front Line Command by hawk transmission, as temporary access to the Picklet Mountains was still being erected. To be precise, the four guerrilla battalions should be constructed temporarily in time of war, with the support of the Grand Prince, and are combat units under the direct command of the Front Line Command. Even when entering the southern three counties and temporarily under the command of the Blue Feather Regiment, the responsibility for reward remains with the Front Line Command.

Like Hawk and Pigeon communications, the short report should be concise and concise. Major Ledfank therefore briefly reported the results of the fighting, and all supporting documents and reports of the fighting remained at the battalion headquarters. He was well aware that the Kung Fu Express was easy to believe, but did not expect such a big wind from Front Line Command that it attracted so many staff officers to resent and question it.

Upon arrival at the battalion headquarters of the 1st Battalion of the Rangers, the Joint Investigation Group turned all supporting documents and combat reports over to the sky, from which false evidence was found in private maps. But, unfortunately, Major Ledfank was very considerate and did not allow the Joint Investigation Team staff officers to pick bones out of the eggs at all.

The Joint Investigation Team, which could not find false evidence, simply set aside all the supporting documents and decided to repeat the process. First, the six captured noblemen were interrogated, then the nearly 100 wounded prisoners were recovered, and then the seized loot was checked. Finally, we visited the battlefield in Squirrel Village, where Claude was located.

Upon arrival in Squirrel Village, Claude spent three days with the Joint Investigation Team's staff officers surveying all the battlefields and remembering in detail how he had commanded the entire battle. Although Squirrel Village is under reconstruction, traces of burning are still abundant. Claude had to rewrite a battle report and plotted the original Squirrel Village plan, indicating how he had set up a trap to lure enemies...

After three days of torturing Claude, it was the turn of Markci and Muried, among others, and every soldier who had fought was inevitably questioned by the Joint Investigation Group, essentially to recall the entire course of the fighting and to check to see if anyone was fabricating a lie. Even Diavid, who had gone out to suppress local riots, was inevitable and returned with his squadron to Squirrel Village to be questioned by the Joint Investigation Team.

Soldiers then turned to more than one hundred and thirty prisoners who Claude regarded as a young labor force, and they were also to be questioned. Claude took the opportunity to ask Major Ledfank for dozens of prisoners who had been held in the battalion and whose wounds had healed. Anyway, those prisoners had nothing to do in the battalion, so as to contribute to the new construction of Squirrel Village.

As a result of the new construction of Squirrel Village, some villagers from Blackstone Village and Kamen Village who had ties to Squirrel Village residents wanted to move in, adding up to more than two dozen households. However, this also leads to the problem that Squirrel Village is not surrounded by enough mountain fields. The village elder and Sergeant Markzi conspired later to find Claude in the hope of renting more than one hundred and thirty prisoners to open up some new mountain fields for Squirrel Village. During this time, the business of the tavern opened by the village elder flourished. There was a little money around, and the village elder's waistplate was straightened out, and he was willing to pay to hire people to work.

Claude was pleased to see that the mountain fields in Squirrel Village were much more open, so whether it was food or vegetable cultivation, it would be a good thing for the troops stationed here, at least not to have to take a horse ride one day and one night to a town off the highway to buy fruits and fresh vegetables. Coupled with livestock poultry farmed by villagers, Squirrel Village can become self-sufficient after adding the ingredients to the food. Perhaps it won't take long for Squirrel Village to grow into a small town.

The elder village chief is also preparing to open a winery, which will mainly produce wild fruit and rye wines from the mountains. This is because all the wine he now serves in the tavern is alcohol made by the mountain people themselves. Far away shipping can make the wine much more expensive, which is not very affordable for him, so why not hire a few more acres of rye to make the wine?

Claude agreed to the village elder's request that the gunpowder seized from the Territory's noble camp was of little use, and he decided to use it to blow up several hills around Squirrel Village, fill some ditches and create a large flat area to open new fields for Squirrel Village. Anyway, the labourers are the prisoners, and the hire fee from the village elders can be paid to the soldiers below to make up for their spending in the tavern, which is a good business.

Major Ledfank thought Claude was right to help villagers open new squirrel villages and encourage them to cultivate and cultivate more, on the one hand as compensation for burning squirrel villages and, on the other hand, to absorb the loyalty of the mountain villagers. With Squirrel Village as a model, other mountain people can easily rely on the kingdom, so when there is another war, the mountain people here should be on the side of the kingdom, not easily tempted and incited by the agents sent by the Principality of Eskirin to avoid local rebellion.

So Major Ledfank decided to have all the prisoners of the battalion escorted to work. In addition to the prisoners he had last taken to feed his wounds, those captured in the repressive local riots were ready to be placed in the custody of Claude, where they would work hard. However, he also reminded Claude not to look to Squirrel Village for welfare, preferably by sending someone to renovate the highway so that the battalion would be more convenient and expeditious in delivering logistical supplies.

The Joint Investigation Team tortured all the prisoners for another three days, and this shortcut proved to be truly credible. The members of several joint investigation teams who were reluctant to accept the loss made a final move by asking to see the bodies of all the enemies that had been exterminated and to confirm that the bodies of the enemies that had been buried had as many as documented...

Claude had to admire Major Ledfank for the rigour and thoughtfulness with which he did his work, which was simply dripping water. When he first came to verify the outcome of the war, he might have expected it to happen, so that when burying the bodies of those enemies, he not only marked them in detail on the map, but even instructed those captives who had moved the bodies into the pit to arrange them all according to his requirements.

More than two months apart, the weather is getting warmer and hotter. The big pit where the bodies of the enemy were buried was dug open, and the smell of rotten stench was almost spit out by everyone present. Claude couldn't help but find some clean linen in the camp's warehouse and cut it into a strip that would allow the diggers and soldiers to cover their faces. At the same time, McJackie was instructed to prepare disinfectants in the barracks for the use of the prisoners and soldiers in the shower, in case of contamination with an epidemic...

Major Ledfank, when he initially buried the bodies of his enemies, ordered the captives to stack them in layers with consistent head and foot directions, and to lay a lawn seat between the upper and lower layers of the bodies. Data are available on the number of bodies in one burial pit and the distance between the two burial pits is about two metres apart. So the number of bodies in the mass exhumation did not need to be relocated, which was evidence of the Joint Investigation Team's deliberate dilemma. No one is willing to carry the bodies of semi-rotted maggots that reek of stench.

So this time, all you need to do to count the number of bodies is lift off the puddle above the crater, and dig up the dirt between the two craters, and you can see and count the rows of bodies stacked together. The number of bodies of enemies between each cadaver is clearly documented. The data on the bodies in the first dozen cadavers do not differ in any way. Even Captain Skerry, who supervises them, cannot read them. He believes that the warfare bulletin reported by Major Ledfank is genuine and credible, and that there is no need to dig the remaining cadavers. Counting these rotters has left all members of the Joint Mission with little appetite to eat...

Major Ledfank, however, strongly disagreed, insisting that all the cadavers be exhumed and that the number of bodies of the enemy be counted so as not to call into question the victory in the future, as it was a matter of honour for him personally and for all the soldiers and soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the Rangers. With his insistence, the Joint Mission could only pinch its nose and barf its face to death, eventually completing the inventory of all remains and signing the outcome document to prove this miraculous victory.

The joint mission came in a fierce mood, but after a half-month of torment here in Squirrel Village, he left with a quail of plague in his head. The main reason was not that they could not find false evidence of the battle, nor was the lack of appetite caused by the inventory of decaying corpses. Instead, the contempt of the soldiers who took part in the war made these arrogant and arrogant military genius staff officers unbearable.

Just as a soldier who was questioned was very straightforward to say to them that you couldn't do it doesn't mean anyone else couldn't do it, and we didn't believe at first that Commander Claude was able to force so many enemies into guarding Squirrel Village, but in the end we experienced and saw for ourselves how Commander Claude was plotting to defeat them. We all respect him because he puts our safety first, not as cannonball ashes for the sake of battle...

That is, since then, the Joint Mission's staff officers have found it very embarrassing that the soldiers here have looked at them with contempt and disdain, especially behind the flirtatious salute and designation before them, seemingly laughing at their incompetence and envy. So as soon as the investigation is over, everyone wants to get out of here.

Captain Skerry naturally reported the results of the joint investigation to Grand Prince Hansburg.

“So this big victory is a real and credible fact?” The great prince asks.

“Yes, Your Highness.” Captain Skerry replied: "This is indeed a miraculous victory, an unquestionable end. This is a report of the entire battle, and Lieutenant Claude explained his battle plans and plots in great detail. ”

Grand Prince Hansburg couldn't wait to pick up the battle report and look at it: “It turns out that the plan to burn Squirrel Village was intended to deal with the nobles of those territories of the Principality of Eskilin, first of all by using land interests to resist the attack of the enemies along the way of the Principality of Kanas. It was only unexpected that the territorial nobility of the Principality of Kanas would turn to join forces with the territorial nobility of the Principality of Eskilin to force Squirrel Village. This compelled Ensign Claude to modify his plan to set up defensive positions in the back hills of Squirrel Village, reduce the enemy's strength, then retreat back to the cantonment camp, induce the enemy to enter Squirrel Village, and then use red artillery rounds to ignite the fire..."

“Nice. Nice. This Claude is a real talent. This plot was a surprise. I didn't expect the aristocrats of those territories to cooperate so much. What kind of wooden platoon car would be built in the village to be used as a shield? It would be like finding your own death...” Prince Hansburg turned around and asked: "By the way, Scully, how would the military department reward this Claude? ”

“Your Highness, in accordance with the military rules of our kingdom, Lieutenant Ji's officers lead soldiers to destroy a thousand enemies with a 1st degree of merit. If calculated in this way, Lieutenant Claude will be able to remember five first-degree medals this time, plus two more when he holds his position and destroys the enemy's army with a small number of horses under heavy enemy pressure. In this way, Ensign Claude can be promoted directly to Major...”

Captain Skerry paused, adding: "But this promotion and reward aroused objections from many officers of the command who thought Ensign Claude was too young to be promoted to Major this year, when he was only 21 years old. Moreover, because the enemies he had exterminated were private soldiers and conscripts of the nobility of the Territory, the number of combatants was extremely low. So it was enough that they demanded a discount on this battle and that Ensign Claude be promoted to Lieutenant. After all, he is still young, there will be opportunities in the future...”